Forced air flow unit air heating furnace



P 23, I952 c. A. SCOGIN FORCED AIR .FLOW UNIT AIR HEATING FURNACE Filed March 27. 1950 """IIIII/ INVENTOR.

(Affarafl flaayf/r BY VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII) o "Ill/III ATTOIP/Vf Patented Sept. 23, 1952 'FORCEDAIRIFLOW. UNIT Am HEATING -1. vForei ner:

ENT

cha tels. scone, Kansas Qity, M0,. I Application March 27, 1950; Serial No. 152,116

'2 Claims. (o1. lee-no) This. invention relates it the new; of heatin provide a relatively small, 'yet, highly efficient inemanating from, products of combustion to. the

fullest extent through the medium of a unitary heat exchanger,v having means for receiving such products of combustion and provided additionally with structure for creating and directing currents of airthrough the heat exchanger in heat exchange-relationship to the hot gases rising therein.

It is the most important object. of the present invention to provide a heater having a unitary heat exchanger, cast, molded or otherwise formed into one single structure and having a plurality of tubes for receiving products. of combustion and a number of partition plates to present a plurality of tortuous passageways vfor receiving currents of 'air.

Another important object of the present; in-

vention is to provide. a heater of the aforesaid character that includes plenum structure overlying the heat exchanger and having an outlet duct that is ofiset with respect to the tubular Many more minor objects will .be made clear or becomeapparent as the following specification progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, wherein: 1 Figure '1 is a vertical sectional view of a unit heater made in accordance with my present invention taken on line II of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional view thereof taken on line IIII of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse, cross-sectional view taken on line IIIIII of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

The unit heater shown in the drawing includes an outermost, open bottom, hollow shell broadly designated by the numeral l and having a pair of opposed side walls [2 and I4, a pair of opposed end walls l6 and I8, and a top wall 20. Walls I2 and M are provided with opposed openings 22 and 24 respectively and top wall 20 has an opening 26 therethrough.

An open top, tray-like member 28 is secured within the shell l0 near the bottom thereof in any suitable manner, not shown, presenting a chamber 30 for receiving a burner 32 having'a neck 34 that extends outwardly through one wall of the member 28 and through the side wall l2.

' and air conditioning, the primary object being to j expensive heater so formed; as to utilize heat A pipe 36 connects burner 32 with a source of suitable fuel not shown;' A heat exchange unit, broadly designated by the numeral 3.8, is. also mounted in the shell I0 in a suitable manner.

Unit 38 includes a top wall 44, a bottom wall 42 and a plurality of tubes 44 as well as a. number of plates 46, all vertically disposed andintegrally interconnecting walls 40 and 42'. I

It is contemplated that the entire unit be cast, molded or otherwise formed as a single structure and as shown in Fig. 3, the tubes 44, as well as the plates 46, are all arranged in stag ered relationship to present apluralityof tortuous passages for cur-rents of air. Such air currents are produced through the medium of a fan 48 on, the a drive shaft 50, an electric motor 52; all mounted upon a bracket 54. secured to the outermost .face of wall [2. Fan 48 is in direct alignment with the opening 22 and is capable of moving air through the unit 38 in the direction of the 'horlzontal arrows shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing. The bottom wall 42 of unit 331s disposed-within the member 28 in complete closing'rela'tion'ship thereto and directly above burner 32-. 3 A plenum 56 overlies the unit 38 and encloses top wall thereof.

' Plenum 56has an outlet opening 58 therein t'hat is in coaxial alignment with opening 26 andr an outlet conduit '60 passing through openings 26 and 58 is secured directly to top-wall ZD-and plenum structure 56. It is noted that-wall l4 closes one end of. the structure '56 and one. end of chamber 30 and that walls 40 and 42 abut the innermost face of wall [4 adjacent the outlet opening 24. It is also notable that the conduit 60 is offset with respect to the three tubular members 44 of unit 38.

Fig. 3 of the drawing illustrates the elliptical contour of tubes 44, so formed a to present a relatively large, effective surface upon which air emanating from fan 48 impinges as the same passes from opening 22 to opening 24.

In operation, products of combustion emanating from the flame of the burning fuel above burner 32, pass upwardly through the elliptical tubes 44, dwell within the plenum structure 56 and thence pass to a suitable point of discharge by way of outlet duct 60. At the same time, air is caused to move between the plates 46 and across the outermost surfaces of tubes 44 to pick up heat from the entire unit 38 including walls 40 and 42, plates 46 andtubes 44.

Manifestly, the entire structure 38 is made from material capable of conducting heat. The entire unit 38 is therefore, heated not only by the products of combustion, but by the flame itself that directly underlies wall 42. Heat in bottom wall 42 will move upwardly alon the plates 46 and tubes 44 and pass into the uppermost wall 40. All of such surfaces are capable of passing the heat thereof to the air that is constantly moving through the structure 38 from fan 48. By offsetting theoutlet duct 60 with respect.to tubes H, the products of combustion are prevented from passing rapidly from the heater and are caused to dwell within the tubes 44 and within the plenum structure 56 a sufficient period of time" to give off substantially all of the heat thereof.

4 nication with each other, said unit and said trays being mounted within the shell, spaced below the top wall of the shell, and spaced from the remaining side walls of the shell; a burner in the burner tray underlying said unit; a flue in register with the plenum tray and extending upwardly therefrom through said top wall of the shell, said remainingside walls of the shell and the burner tray eachhaving a number of inlet =whereby, natural air currents pass into the shell In order to produce sufficient draft and-air,

to support combustion, certain of the walls of the member 28 are provided with openings 62 that are produced by outwardlystruck, down-turnedv as at 68. Air'entering the shell l0 through the openings presented by louvers 06 will not only enter the chamber 30 through openings 82, but will pass upwardly along the innermost faces of shell l0 and egress from shell in through the openings in top wall after being heated by the heat exchange unit 38.

It is clear from the foregoing that a unit heater has been provided that effectively utilizes all of the heat, that can be produced from a relatively small single burner, and that by forming and disposing the component parts thereof as herein disclosed, can be quickly, easily and economically heated. The heater however, is subject to many changes and modifications and therefore, it is desired to be limited only by the spirit of the invention as defined'by the scope of the appended claims.

- Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

A heater comprising a hollow, open bottom shell having a top wall and a number of side walls, one of the side Walls having an air, outlet opening formed therein; an open top burner tray; an open bottom plenum tray overlying the burner tray; a heat exchange unit between the trays, said unit having a top wall and a bottom wall interconnecting the trays in closing relationship to the plenum tray and to the. burner tray respectively, said unit having a number of spaced, elongated tubes having vertical, longitudinal axes, said tubes extending through said walls of the unit, placing the trays into commuand into the burner tray through the inlet ports for upward movement exteriorly and interiorlv of said tubes, there being a number of air outlet ports in said top wall of the shell and an air inlet opening in a second of said side walls; and a-fan carried by the shell for producing artificial currents of air, said fan being mounted on the second sidewall in alignment with the air inlet opening of the second side wall for directing said artificial currents of air through said air inlet opening of the second side wall and thence against the outermost faces of tubes.

2: A heater as set forth in claim 1 wherein said unit is provided with a number of elongated plates having vertical, longitudinal axes, said plates being disposed between the top and bottom walls of the unit and interconnecting the same, said plates and tubes all being between the air inlet opening and the air outlet opening within the path of travel of said artificial currents of air passingfrom the air inlet opening to the air outlet opening of the shell, said plates and said tubes all being spaced apart and all having opposed faces substantially parallel to the path of travel of said artificial currents of air, the transverse axes of the tubes and the plates being substantially parallel to said path of travel of the artificial currents of air.

. I CLIFFORD A. SCOGIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this'patent: Y

' UNITED'STATES PATENTS 

